Info
This song is said to have been popular among traveling lawyers in the late 19th century in the U.S. Midwest. Former President Lincoln apparently knew it. (source)
Lyrics
1. The little black bull came down the meadow, Hoosen Johnny, Hoosen Johnny,
The little black bull came down the meadow, Long time ago.
Long time ago, long time ago,
The little black bull came down the meadow, Long time ago.
2. First he pawed and then he bellowed, Hoosen Johnny, Hoosen Johnny,
First he pawed and then he bellowed, Long time ago…
3. He whet his horn on a white oak sapling…
4. He shook his tail, he jarred the river…
5. He pawed the dirt in the heifer’s faces…
See also
- pentatonic songs
- songs with sixteenth-eighth | dotted eighth – sixteenth note patterns
- songs with chords I V
- background info
- source: Animal Folk Songs for Children, Ruth Seeger, 1950
YouTube
Extras for Plus Members
- Song with chords (PDF)
- MIDI file
- Listen
2 thoughts on “Hoosen Johnny”
What does Hoosen Johnny mean? At the little summer play-ground group I went to in the 1960s in Wilmette, illinois, had a singer who taught us this. I thought it was “Who’s in, johnny”.
Hi Linda! I added some background info (see the link above), but I couldn’t find exactly what “Hoosen” means.